


It Takes a Village

by KaliopeShipsIt



Series: Alliteration-Verse [14]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Breeding Kink, But not Sterek, Divorce, Family Feels, Fluff, Illusions, Jackson is wrapped around his children's fingers, Kid Fic, M/M, Past Mpreg, Past Pregnant Derek Hale, Pregnant Allison, Pregnant Erica, Stiles Is One Kinky Mate, Stiles and Derek are mates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-19
Updated: 2014-07-19
Packaged: 2018-02-09 14:12:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,863
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1985958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KaliopeShipsIt/pseuds/KaliopeShipsIt
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Erica’s pregnant.” </p><p>Derek blinked. Then he blinked again. </p><p>“Didn’t you two have a baby three months ago?” </p><p>Boyd nodded. His reply was – as usual – painfully dry. “Yes. That’s why I’m here. I need you to hide me.”</p><p> </p><p>Or: The one where Derek wonders if giving The Talk to his Betas should be part of the Alpha job-description because seriously, what is it with his pack and birth control?</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Takes a Village

**Author's Note:**

> Please do not put my stuff on Goodreads. I was not aware that part of my stories were on there and I am not comfortable with having my fan fics circulated out of my control. 
> 
>  
> 
> Alternative Title for this one could also be: the one where the pack gets done with the baby-making. 
> 
> Enjoy!

_January 2032_

“It’s a boy!” Stiles’ voice rang through the house and Derek, who had been sitting in the attic for almost an hour already to sort through Leonie’s old baby clothes to give to Scott and Allison, paused.

“It’s a _what_?” he called down and then he heard Stiles climb up the ladder leading to the attic.

“A boy!” he repeated when he poked his head through the door and Derek, who had been seriously tempted to cry some manly tears over the little dress Leonie had worn for her first Christmas, carefully put the dress back into the box he had just opened.

“Wrong box then,” he said and Stiles, who looked like he could hardly believe what he was saying, nodded.

“I think Scotty is still in a state of shock. To be honest, so am I. I know they never could tell what it was for sure on the ultrasound, but everyone was so _sure_ it was a girl!”

Derek laughed. “Well, considering he already had the first 50 Daddy-Daughter dates planned out I’d say yeah, he was pretty sure.”

“Allison said he demanded to see proof when the doctor said it was a boy. She thought the look on his face was quite hysterical,” Stiles grinned and Derek, who had already started putting the dresses back into the box, chuckled.

“Are they disappointed? The boys were so excited when all the old wives tales’ and their combined McCall family instincts said it was a sister,” he asked and Stiles shook his head.

“Nah, the baby is healthy – _another_ werewolf by the way – and Allison says he looks exactly like Chris, which I think might be the only thing Scott’s a little miffed about. Besides, Scott might not have gotten his little girl, but Allison has another little boy that will worship her unconditionally and you know how gone Scott is on the boys’ adoration of their mommy, that old sap,” Stiles said fondly.

“Good. Being disappointed over the gender of your baby is ridiculous,” Derek said and Stiles nodded.

“Ridiculous to the umpteenth degree,” he confirmed while he hauled himself up the rest of the way into the attic.

“We’ll just keep these then. Our first grandchild is going to be a girl, so we’ll pass Leo-Pie’s stuff on to her,” he smiled and Derek raised his eyebrows.

“Really?” he asked and Stiles nodded.

“Of course it will be. All Hale first-borns are girls, remember? And besides, it will just about explode my Daddy-heart to see our daughter cradle her own little girl in the dresses she wore when she was a baby,” he continued, playing with a pair of soft baby-booties absentmindedly.

“Don’t be so sure about that. I think our first grandchild will come from Noah,” Derek laughed.

“Noah? Nah, Cas will have kids before Noah does. I think Noah will want to make sure he has at least half the kid’s college fund saved up before he becomes a father, just to be on the safe side,” Stiles chuckled.

Derek grinned ruefully. Noah still looked like the spitting image of Stiles –  Stiles with a very strong chin and Derek’s nose – but ever since he had become an older brother their middle child had – if possible – become even more serious and quiet than he had been before.

At almost five years old Noah always looked out for his younger sibling and he had burst into the kitchen on more than one occasion to alert Derek or Stiles to the fact that Cas was about to fall to his death from some table, chair, or cabinet.

He never hurt himself – Derek was starting to think the boy was a werecat, rather than a werewolf, since he managed to walk away without even a temporary scrape even from the highest of tumbles – but Noah seemed to be convinced that if his little brother stumbled often enough he might eventually use up all of his wolf-mojo.

Their middle child had recently begun to learn how to read and he was always reading books to Cas, looking like a serious little professor minus the glasses when he did so.

Stiles had snapped approximately ten thousand pictures of their sons when they were cuddled up in the – reupholstered – armchair, their light brown and pitch-black heads close together as they bent over the book.

Cas, unlike his big brother, looked like Derek. His nose was more shaped like Stiles’ but apart from that he was a Hale and when he had been a small baby Derek had labeled every picture with a date because he looked almost exactly like Leonie in some of them.

He was also – and the pack didn’t get tired to point out the hilarity of it – very much like Stiles in behavior, which, combined with his werewolf energy, translated to a very destructive force.

Leonie was very chatty, Noah, who usually preferred to observe quietly, had his talkative moments as well, but Cas literally hadn’t stopped talking ever since he had first figured out how to make actual sounds with his mouth at the age of six months, startling his fathers, who had not been expecting it.

At first he had just parroted sounds back to them, but the first “Dada” had been unmistakable at the age of eight months.

“Two out of three, _winning_!” Stiles had triumphed and Derek, who didn’t have the heart to tell him that Cas’ frequent calls for “Eo-I” as of recent had probably been his attempts to say Leo-Pie, had graciously admitted surrender.

Cas was now one and a half and had recently started trying to talk in sentences and either Stiles or Derek had had to take their youngest aside to calm him down on more than one occasion when Cas had tried to say a word, failed, and almost freaked out in a ball of tense toddler-frustration.

Toddler-frustration usually led to Cas breaking something – on accident, mostly, because for all of his werewolf-abilities he was rather clumsy – and both Derek and Stiles hoped that he would mellow out when he was a bit older.

Their toddler was currently asleep and Leonie was playing Legos with Noah so the house was quiet for once. With a grin Derek stood up and beckoned for Stiles to move away from the ladder so he could climb down.

It wasn’t until he had fed their dog Jay-Jay and was making tea in the kitchen that he realized he had forgotten something essential.

“What’s the kid’s name? They really only had names for a girl, didn’t they?” he asked and Stiles shrugged.

“He’s nameless as of now. They never thought of a boy’s name and now they are all busy brainstorming. So far Mikey has suggested Scooby and Alex is insistent that they name the kid Poop, so I think it’ll be at least another day until we learn his name.”

Stiles considered for second and then grinned.

“Of course I suggested that they name him after me, since I’m the world’s best godfather, obviously, but Scott argued that he was never able to pronounce my first name in all our years of friendship, so that was obviously out,” he explained.

“It will probably be something classic, like they did with Mikey and Alex,” Derek mused while stirring honey into his tea and Stiles stepped towards him, leaned his chest against Derek’s back and smacked a kiss on his cheek, his arms encircling his mate’s waist.

“Did you know that every time I see you stir honey into your tea I want to make a joke about how you are not a werewolf, but a were-bear? And that every time I want to make that joke I remember how we actually showed up at Erica and Boyd’s wedding as bears? And did you also know that every time I think about _why_ we had to do that I remember how much I love you and that I am so glad you are mine? And did you also know that when I think about that I also remember how we defiled Erica’s maiden bed and then I get the almost unstoppable urge to touch you everywhere?”

Derek’s hand never stopped stirring the tea even while he leaned his head back to give Stiles access to his neck.

“I just thought you had a strange honey-fetish,” he murmured and Stiles chuckled against his sensitive skin.

“A honey-fetish? What’s a honey-fetish?” he muttered and Derek shrugged.

“Don’t ask me, you’re the one who has the weird ideas,” he replied and when he reached up the hand that had previously unscrewed the honey-jar, Stiles gently grasped his wrist and sucked each finger into his mouth, smiling around the digits as he licked off the sticky sweetness.

“I _could_ develop a honey-fetish I’m sure,” he said and Derek smiled.

“I’m sure you could _honey_.”

Stiles laughed.

“That was – bad!” he decided and he gently squeezed Derek’s side with the hand that wasn’t currently occupied with trailing along Derek’s wrist.

“Keep doing that to my wrist and I’ll even let you – probably,” Derek decided, sighing softly when Stiles nosed along the sensitive skin and set all of his nerve endings there aflame.

Incorporating honey into their bedroom activities was – to put it mildly – yet another one of Stiles’ unfortunate ideas as they found out later that night and Derek grumbled menacingly as he shaved his chest, having been unable to rid himself of the honey that had plastered his chest-hair together for all eternity.

When he returned to their bed Stiles had already changed the sheets and was lying on his side with a look of utter innocence on his face.

Derek shook his head affectionately as he climbed into the bed behind his mate and snuggled against him, pressing his smooth-shaven chest against Stiles’ broad back.

“Feels different – I had forgotten how smooth your skin could be,” Stiles murmured sleepily and Derek grinned.

“Don’t get used to it – I feel like a teenager right now,” he observed.

Stiles laughed quietly.

“If I was a werewolf that would make me a werecougar. Are there werecougars out there, Derek?”

Derek shrugged.

“I wouldn’t be surprised.”

Stiles had almost fallen asleep when his phone on the nightstand suddenly buzzed. He reached for it sleepily and when he made a soft, happy sound, Derek hooked his chin over his mate’s shoulder to read the message.

“Thomas Andrew McCall,” he read out loud and Stiles sighed contentedly.

“He’ll make a good husband for Cas one day,” he decided.

Derek rolled his eyes.

“Our children can marry whoever they want,” he said drily and Stiles scoffed.

“Of course they can. But Scott and I want to share at least one grandchild and we are determined to make it happen!”

Derek closed his eyes with a fond shake of his head.

He didn’t think that setting up marriage contracts was a stellar parenting technique but he was nevertheless grateful his mate had been blessed with such a good best friend for life.

 

==================

 

_February 2032_

“Guess what losers! The title of ‘Cutest Pack Baby’ no longer belongs to your kids!” Erica announced at the beginning of a pack meeting in late February, turning to Boyd and high-fiving him with a large smirk on her face.

“Ha! I won! Pay up suckers!” Stiles burst out and Erica and Boyd raised their eyebrows simultaneously, looking at Stiles in confusion when he started collecting bills from the disgruntled pack members.

“We had a bet on how long it would take until you actually told us,” Allison explained, grinning as she passed a five-dollar bill to Stiles.

“We’ve kind of known for two weeks but we figured we’d let you decide when to tell us.”

“How? We’ve only known for three weeks?” Boyd asked and Derek and Scott shrugged guiltily.

“True Alpha and Father of Three and Pregnancy-Savvy Alpha here, at this point our noses are pretty much conditioned to pick up on even the slightest hint of pregnancy smell.”

“You smell very lovely though, like a flower in full bloom. I would even dare to say you sparkle like a thousand suns,” Derek said calmly; face completely expressionless when Erica’s expression turned to disgust.

“I haven’t had morning sickness yet, but if you tell me something like that again I will probably hurl,” she informed her Alpha but Derek just shrugged.

“I’ve had to listen to many, many, many Twilight sparkle-references. I’m determined to get you back for every single one of them,” he said and Boyd looked alarmed, obviously not sure if Derek was joking or not.

“You wouldn’t,” Erica said calmly, a hint of threat hanging in the air when she smiled at Derek sweetly.

Derek shook his head.

It probably wasn’t appropriate for an Alpha to have himself bossed around by a Beta, but he suddenly had the feeling that a pregnant Erica would probably be even scarier than normal Erica.

“I might not,” he confirmed, fighting a grin when Boyd’s entire face collapsed in relief.

“When is it due?” Allison asked and Erica grinned.

“August 16th, which, I would say, is a kick-ass day to be born, since two times eight equals sixteen. My kid is going to be a brilliant genius, this just proves it already.”

Boyd nodded earnestly and Stiles laughed, then gulped when Erica fixed him with a challenging stare.

“What’s there to laugh!” she demanded and Stiles immediately raised his hands in surrender.

“Nothing, nothing. I’m just so happy for you guys,” he rushed out and Erica nodded, seemingly satisfied.

“Excellent. Hey Derek? Since you’re my Alpha and you need to provide for me – how about getting me some pickles with orange juice. The kind with lots of pulp please,” she demanded.

“I think that’s the mate’s job, actually,” Derek grumbled but he got up nevertheless, feeling decidedly sympathetic towards pregnancy cravings.

“The mate has to give me a foot-massage so he can’t go anywhere,” Erica explained and the rest of the pack had to struggle not to laugh when Boyd obediently slipped out of his seat and knelt in front of his wife to massage her not at all swollen feet.

“How far along is she again?” Stiles whispered when he joined Derek in the kitchen and Derek, who was getting increasingly nervous about only having the non-pulp kind orange juice in his fridge since Noah was currently going through a late-onset picky-eater toddler phase, grunted.

“Three months maybe?” he responded absentmindedly and Stiles winced.

“Poor Boyd. That means he’s got at least six months more of this to look forward to,” he whispered and because he was so busy looking at his startled, frantically arm-waving mate in confusion, the slap Erica delivered to the back of his head with an affronted glare took him completely by surprise.

 

================

_August 30 th 2032_

For most of the pack Erica’s first pregnancy went by in a flash – except for Boyd and Derek, the former being married to her and the latter being her Alpha and thus bound by an unspoken rule to check in on her frequently.

Especially considering the fact that the entire rest of the pack had tucked their tails – literally and metaphorically – between their legs and run the other way when Erica had started to show, been hit by a late-onset case of morning-sickness and developed pregnancy-hormones from hell all at the same time.

Not wanting to be known as a Fail-Wolf Alpha any longer, Derek had spent quite a few mornings with his miserable Beta, rubbing her feet and trying to make sure she was comfortable while Boyd had been at work.

He had occasionally taken Cas with him and the toddler’s presence had offered additional comfort to Erica, who loved all of his children and enjoyed spending time with his youngest on a regular basis.

Eventually the morning sickness had disappeared and had been replaced by the strangest cravings Derek had ever heard of – and that included Stiles’ mayonnaise binge during the Couvade episode.

He had only tasted the unholy abomination that was pureed peach, aioli, brussel sprouts and wheat-grass that Erica had taken to binge-drink as a smoothie because she had started bawling at his unwillingness to share this special moment with her.

He had cursed the fact that he was only able to vomit when pregnant or under the influence of wolfsbane throughout the entire drive back to his and Stiles’ home, his protesting stomach a constant reminder of his afternoon.

Boyd, however, was the perfect mate for Erica, able to take even her biggest emotional meltdowns – and smoothie abominations – in stride and just holding her through them with his trademark stoic patience.

Towards the end of Erica’s second trimester Derek had held an emergency pack meeting and after he had ranted at them for almost two hours about how important it was for a pregnant werewolf to be surrounded by pack, regardless of how scary the pregnant werewolf was, Isaac had coordinated a puppy-pile schedule, feeling guilty for having bailed on his pack-mates.

The puppy pile schedule had consisted of Erica and Boyd’s house constantly being overrun by at least three members of the pack, including the kids, and after being drenched in pack-hormones for almost two weeks Erica had put her foot down, arguing that all this cuddling was bound to send her into early labor since the baby always became extremely active when it could sense its pack being close.

Reasonably sure that the baby was a werewolf – its response to the pack’s closeness not really leaving any doubt about it – the only mystery left to solve was its gender, since it was extremely uncooperative during every single ultrasound.

Boyd’s position on his firstborn’s gender was, not surprisingly, total and utter indifference in the most positive way and Erica, who almost always put her name down for a boy in baby-gender pools, decided to stick with her traditional guess.

They had refused to share the baby’s name with the pack and Stiles, whose naming choices Erica had always mocked gleefully, was especially eager to learn the new additions’ moniker.

Derek had chastised him for using a poor innocent baby for revenge but Stiles had only grinned, arguing that there was no way anything that shared Erica’s DNA could be innocent for too long, his eyes sparkling to assure Derek he was kidding.

At least Derek had hoped he was.

The pack children were very excited for the new baby, especially Leonie, Noah, Josie and Goldie (“Her name is Aurelia, damn it, I didn’t _know_ all of her names meant gold, I swear!”), who, unlike Mikey and Alex, didn’t currently have a newborn in the house.

Cas was too young to fully understand what was going on but he pushed his nose against Erica’s belly whenever he got the chance, scenting the child and saying hello in his own way.

Derek was continually amazed at how in quickly he had recently started to pick up on and control his werewolf powers, at least in comparison to Leonie, who, at nine years old and almost ready to start shifting during the full moon, was starting to become increasingly restless in the days leading up to the lunar event.

Cora had joked that if she was prone to being irritable during a certain time of the month Derek and Stiles might have their work cut out for them as soon as she hit puberty for good and Derek, who remembered his promise to talk to Leonie about these things and sometimes wished he had never made it, had been sorely tempted to throw something at her when Stiles had paled and all but fled the living room in his haste to reach the wine cabinet.

Because Thomas was a boy Noah, Josie, and Goldie were dead-set on Erica’s baby being a little girl, while Leonie was siding with her aunt Erica.

As Erica’s due date had neared Scott and Stiles had once again dug up the Old Wives’ Tales and as a result Stiles was now changing his vote in the betting pool on a weekly basis.

Derek, who had refrained from joining the pool but wasn’t a hundred percent convinced that the pack’s near-unanimous decision that the baby was a girl was accurate, had just shrugged.

A couple of weeks later August 16th had come and gone uneventfully and on August 30th Melissa finally had enough.

Derek was almost certain that Boyd was about to burst into relieved tears when he and Melissa had shown up at their house that morning to inform Erica that they would have to deliver the baby today because it was simply getting too large.

Erica, who had been lounging on approximately 15 pillows, her feet stuck in a bucket full of ice and a decidedly put-out look on her face, had agreed enthusiastically.

Although she could have delivered at a hospital, Erica had decided to go for a home-birth and although every instinct in Melissa had screamed against performing a home-birth c-section, they had all agreed that having Erica deliver a rather large baby naturally two weeks after its due date was just an unnecessary risk when she could heal instantly from a c-section instead.

Scott had paled at the prospect of delivering the child but that was just as well, since Derek wouldn’t have allowed him to take his place anyhow.

Not that he was very enthusiastic about tearing his Beta open with his claws, which would slow down her healing process enough for them to actually get the baby out, but he _was_ her Alpha and he knew that he had to do this for her and Boyd.

After Melissa had thoroughly sterilized his claws – her face still pinched in an expression that clearly screamed that she was wondering what the hell she was doing – Derek, who had watched an educational video on the subject and had been busy freaking out about it ever since, had tried to cut into Erica’s belly as gently as he could, one hand tearing into her flesh while the other was pressed to her stomach, taking the pain at the same time as he was inflicting it upon her.

He was sweating by the time Melissa finally pulled the baby out and Derek’s hand never left Erica’s skin as she and Boyd said hello to their little boy, determined that she should enjoy the moment without being in any pain whatsoever.

By the time they had finished with the rest of the c-section process and Erica had healed up Boyd had cleaned the baby and swaddled him in blankets.

He looked prouder than Derek had ever seen him, his eyes glistening suspiciously as he had presented the child to Derek and Derek cradled the little boy carefully, amazed at how much of Erica he could already see in him.

“What’s his name?” Melissa asked with a large smile and Erica, who looked a little dazed – Derek might have overdone it a little bit with the healing mojo and accidentally put her into a near-stoned state, he was afraid – smiled happily.

“Channing. His name is Channing Evan Boyd,” she informed them and Derek’s eyebrows rose.

“Channing?” he repeated and Boyd nodded.

“Channing means ‘young wolf’ – we always knew that was the name we wanted to give to our child and we were seriously afraid Stiles was going to come up with it first,” he explained.

Derek laughed – it was definitely a name that Stiles would have come up with, though it was by no means a bad name.

Just a little unusual, maybe. And he was also quite sure that Stiles had salivated over an actor with the same name once, many, many years ago.

“I’m going to call him Chan-Chan,” Erica said and Derek chuckled when he took in the blissed-out expression on her face.

“You can call him anything you want babe,” Boyd assured her, the expression on his face suggesting that he was aware that his wife was currently a little out of it.

Derek was still smiling when he got home and Stiles’ disappointment over losing the money from the betting pool was easily cured by Derek’s reminder that Leonie had invested two dollars of her allowance into the pool, making her eligible to win almost a third.

“Do you think we are raising her to be a professional gambler?” Stiles asked later that night and Derek laughed.

He was quite sure that growing up with a Sheriff for a grandpa would probably put a damper on Leonie’s future career as a con-artist.

At least he certainly hoped so.

================

_November 2032_

Derek was genuinely concerned when Jackson showed up at the November pack meeting looking like something terrible had happened and he was able to quell his worries for almost two hours before he couldn’t stand it any longer and pulled the blonde Beta aside on his way to the kitchen.

The rest of the pack was using the break to coo over Channing – or Chan-Chan, as Erica occasionally called him – who had just started to smile and so Derek was reasonably certain that they weren’t listening to what he and Jackson were talking about.

“Is something wrong with the girls? Or Julia?” he asked him and Jackson rubbed his eyes, looking more tired than Derek had seen him in a long time.

“In a manner of speaking I guess – Julia’s pregnant.”

Derek blinked.

“That’s not a good thing?” he asked finally and Jackson sighed.

“Not when you’re headed towards a divorce it’s not,” he muttered and Derek’s eyes widened.

The fact that Jackson and Julia fought frequently wasn’t a secret in the pack, how could it be when Jackson tended to take his marital frustration out on everybody else who was not a child on a regular basis, but he hadn’t known that it had gotten so bad they had actually talked about divorce.

“Divorce?” Derek asked and Jackson sighed again.

“I love her, I do, she’s the mother of my daughters, it’s just – I don’t think she loves me? Not the way she needs to for us to make this marriage work at least.”

He looked miserable and Derek hesitantly placed his hand on the man’s shoulder, not sure if Jackson would rip it off.

“We should have waited longer to get pregnant, I think,” Jackson said quietly, a beer bottle clenched in his hands as he stared at the wall.

“We had just really gotten to know each other and then everything was about Josephine and we were both up to our ears in happy baby pheromones and new parent bliss and then we had Aurelia and for a while things were really great but as you know Josephine had a bit of trouble adjusting to no longer being an only-child and the more she acted out the more stressed Julia became and the more stressed out she was, the more stressed out I got and it just … I’m not blaming this on my kids, I’m really not, it’s just kind of proof that when things are not running smoothly me and Julia we just … don’t really work out after all.”

He took a swig from the bottle, then grimaced, obviously not impressed with Stiles’ choice in beer.

“We’ve been trying to work on it, we have even gone to therapy, but the more we tried to work on it the more we realized how incredibly incompatible we are and well … we were about to hire a lawyer for the divorce when Julia missed her period.”

Derek opened his mouth and closed it again, wondering what would be the most delicate way of asking what was a pressing question on his mind when Jackson, who had been watching him with an unhappy expression on his face, groaned.

“It was the therapist’s idea – she suggested we start to discover each other again and that maybe our lack of a sex life after Aurelia’s birth was part of the problem,” he said, taking another deep gulp from the bottle.

Derek blinked.

“Without protection?” he asked and Jackson sighed.

“We’re married. She refused to go back on the pill, told me I’d just end up accusing her of cheating if she did and one night we got into this huge fight and we decided to have classic angry sex to at least get _something_ out of this mess and we didn’t have condoms and so I just … pulled out.”

He blushed.

“Which, by the way, was in no way satisfying enough to tamper down any anger I was feeling at the time, let me assure you.”

“You pulled out?” Derek repeated, disbelief coloring his voice.

It wasn’t that he wanted to get on his Beta’s case when he was already miserable enough, he really didn’t want to do that, but he was simply too stunned by the news that his Beta actually thought pulling out was a safe method of birth control.

“What now?” he finally asked and Jackson shrugged.

“Now we’re going to have another baby, which I’m going to love and cherish with all my heart. If I’m lucky my babies will grow up with parents who can make their marriage work despite their differences. And if not – then I’ll still love my children with everything I have and I’ll make it work, somehow.”

There really was nothing Derek could say to that and so he didn’t, though his grip on Jackson’s shoulder tightened.

He hoped that Jackson and Julia could work out their differences – he did not even want to imagine Jackson’s reaction if Julia tried to take his babies from him.

 

==============

_December 2032_

“Erica’s pregnant.”

Derek blinked. Then he blinked again. “Didn’t you two have a baby four months ago?”

Boyd nodded.

His reply was – as usual – painfully dry. “Yes. That’s why I’m here. I need you to hide me.”

Derek inhaled deeply.

“Did you … pull out?” he asked, while hating himself for doing it at the same time and Boyd shook his head.

“No – I think that was the problem.”

Derek rubbed his temples.

Someone really should have told him that educating his Betas about proper birth control was part of the Alpha package – he would have never become an Alpha in the first place.

Of course then he would have never had his wonderful children, so Derek immediately reconsidered.

Still – someone should have told him sex was a mandatory part of the newly turned werewolf version of ‘The Talk’.

“And now you want us to hide you? From Erica?” he continued and Boyd nodded.

“Yes. That would be ideal.”

“You realize she will be able to smell you, right?” Derek said carefully and Boyd, who looked for all intents and purposes as if he was completely serious about this, nodded again.

“I’ll sleep in your bed – you and Stiles’ combined scent should be enough to camouflage me. She’ll never find me there,” he said, still sounding dryer than the desert and Derek blinked again.

“You’ll sleep in our bed?” he repeated, his eyebrows rising higher than ever.

“I know it’s an imposition, but I’m sure we can make it work somehow,” Boyd replied.

Derek stared at him, wondering if he had gone insane.

“You are serious about this,” he said, more as a statement than a question and Boyd nodded.

“You don’t understand Derek. Erica has threatened to castrate me. I listened to her heartbeat when she said it. She meant it.”

Derek sighed.

“I’m sure I’ll have to do penance to every single pregnant person on the planet later on but – you realize that, and I’m saying this from personal experience, pregnant people don’t always mean what they say, right?”

Boyd rubbed his nose.

“It’s Erica. She always means what she says,” he responded calmly.

Derek was still staring at his Beta when Boyd indicated towards the door.

“May I?” he asked politely and Derek, who was still too flabbergasted by the conversation, allowed him to go inside, blinking again when Boyd immediately marched up the stairs.

He exhaled loudly when he heard the door to his and Stiles’ bedroom open and close.

He really _was_ serious then.

This just wouldn’t do.

The children were spending the day at their grandparents’ house and Stiles was still at work, giving Derek enough time to flex some of his Alpha muscles.

A visit to Erica was definitely in order.

================

 

“It’s nice of you to stop by Derek, really, it is, but I’m a little busy right now,” Erica said when she opened the door and Derek crossed his arms over his chest when he spotted the open laptop sitting on the coffee table.

Specifically, the Internet browser that was currently displaying “Castration techniques for dogs” on Wikipedia.

“As your Alpha I forbid you from castrating Boyd,” Derek said, having decided that it was probably best to get straight to the point.

Erica crossed her arms, then winced, when the movement apparently irritated her chest.

“I’m pregnant. _Pregnant_. With a barely 4 months old baby. My breasts are sore as hell and I’m trying to _nurse_ a werewolf baby who already has two teeth! Don’t you think I’m justified in wanting to castrate Boyd?” she exclaimed and Derek closed his eyes.

When put like this she definitely did have a point – well, at least in a poetic way.

“The two of you realize that he will just heal after you’re done, right?” he asked instead and Erica growled.

“Not if I cut them right off he won’t!” she muttered darkly, wincing when Channing started crying.

“I have a _baby_ Derek! I can’t take care of another baby! I can’t!”

Without a word Derek walked past her and lifted Channing out of his crib. He changed the baby without comment and when he was no longer crying and in a fresh diaper he sat down on the couch opposite of Erica, who was huddled in a big sweater and looking miserable.

“I know this seems impossible right now, but you’ll make it work. And you’ve got all of us, we are not going anywhere. You know that,” he said as calmly as possible and Erica sniffed.

“How can we make this work if Boyd hates me!” she suddenly started wailing without warning and it took about five seconds until Channing began to cry as well, obviously not comfortable with listening to his distraught mother.

Derek felt decidedly parental when he got up and sat down next to his Beta, shifting Channing so he could wrap his other arm around Erica.

“What exactly is scaring you right now?” he asked when Erica had finally calmed down a little and Channing’s cries had simmered down to occasional sobs.

“Nothing! Everything! I’m having another baby with the man I love but Derek – I was going to focus on Channing. I was going to be the best mother I possibly could be. How can I be the best mother in the world when I am giving birth to another child before he even turns one and my attention is divided between two kids when he would need all of my attention at that crucial stage in his life. I’m a _horrible_ mother!” she sobbed into his shirt and Derek patted her back helplessly.

“You are still going to be a good mother. Even with two children under one. And Channing will grow up with a best friend, which is wonderful. You guys can make this work. I promise,” he said softly and Erica clung to him, her tear-streaked face pressed against his chest just like his own children did when they were upset.

“Boyd is going to hate me,” she mumbled and Derek shook his head.

“Why would he hate you?” he asked and Erica sniffed again.

“I told him I would castrate him. I outlined how I would do it and which knife I would use. I actually showed him the knife so he could visualize it better. Derek – I really flipped my shit,” she muttered and Derek rolled his eyes.

“He’ll be fine. He’s Boyd,” he said, frowning when his phone suddenly buzzed in his pocket.

It was Stiles and though he really wanted to ignore it in favor of taking care of Erica, he had a feeling he knew what Stiles was calling about.

Angling the phone away from his ear so that Erica could hear he opened the conversation.

“Yes Stiles?”

“Derek? Why is Boyd lying in our bed, wrapped up in all of our sheets like a cocoon and sniffing our pillows? And why did he just flat out refuse when I asked him to get the fuck out and said that _you_ said it was fine? Why is it fine that Boyd is in our bed? I don’t want to be paranoid and assume you’ve gone polyamorous behind my back but – Derek, what did I _miss_?”

Derek closed his eyes, a small smile on his face as he imagined the look on Stiles’ face that normally accompanied the slightly shrill panic voice of his beloved mate.

“Boyd was under the impression that Erica wants to castrate him and he decided to hide in our bed to camouflage his scent,” he informed his mate and the sputtering on the other line told him that that wasn’t the explanation Stiles had been looking for.

“Castration? Camouflage? Derek? What is going on? Hold on … _Boyd!_ That’s private!”

Derek groaned, certain that Boyd’s sniffing had just unearthed a certain toy Stiles insisted on keeping under the mattress, arguing that one never knew if the children would start rummaging through their bedside tables.

He was, however, relieved to see the smallest hint of a smile playing around Erica’s lips and so he decided to ignore Boyd’s indecent sniffing for the moment.

“Erica and Boyd are expecting another baby and I’m afraid Erica was a little – emotional when she found out.”

“ _Another_ baby? Didn’t they have Channing like four months ago? Did he pull out? Hey Boyd, did you pull out and think that was a good plan?!” Stiles yelped and Derek could barely keep himself from laughing when Erica muttered “No pulling out – that was the problem!” the same time Boyd’s mumbling voice sounded in the background.

“Now that we have established that Boyd didn’t pull out and we keep toys under the mattress, how about we all go home now – and by that I mean me going home to Stiles and Boyd going home to Erica – and forget this whole episode ever happened while we focus on getting ready for a new beautiful pack baby?” Derek suggested, the barest hint of Alpha in his voice and when Stiles’ voice came through the speaker again he sounded a little petulant.

“Boyd’s still refusing, he says Erica was serious,” he informed his mate and Derek sighed.

“Erica – do you still want to castrate Boyd?” he asked and Erica shook her head.

“Speak up, I want to listen to your heart-beat,” Derek said gently and Erica rolled her eyes.

“I do not want to castrate Boyd, I need him, I can’t do this without him,” she said mournfully and Derek nodded, satisfied with her answer.

“Erica no longer wants to castrate Boyd. I, however, want him out of my bed this instant. Can you tell him that Stiles?” he asked and Stiles snorted.

“He heard you. Or to be more precise, he heard _her_. In fact, he shot out of here like the Flash before Erica stopped speaking – ripping up half of our sheets I might add, so they totally owe us some new ones. He should be there in a few,” Stiles said and Derek kissed Erica’s forehead gently.

“See? You married a good one.”

Erica nodded, new tears pooling in her eyes.

“I know. He’s a good daddy, too,” she mused, tickling Channing’s feet.

“He is – and your babies are lucky to have both of you.”

 

=================

_July 9 th 2033_

Derek wanted to be excited about little Emilia Rose for a variety of reasons.

He wanted to rejoice in the fact that she was a healthy, happy, human baby girl, with huge blue eyes and soft blonde hair, gorgeous just like her big sisters.

He wanted to be excited about the love he had seen in her big sisters’ eyes when they had met her, as well as the pride and love in Jackson’s face.

He also – and he did feel a little guilty about that – wanted to be excited about the fact that Jackson had finally managed to give his child a name that wouldn’t set her up for some sort of ridicule in school.

After all, there certainly was a reason that Josie liked to pretend she did not have middle names and Derek usually tried his hardest not to give in to the pack’s insistent use of the nickname Goldie, making sure to call Jackson’s middle daughter Aurelia as often as possible.

He wanted to be excited about all of these things, but the excitement was significantly dampened by his worry for his Beta.

Or, to be more specific, for the state of his relationship.

Jackson and Julia’s relationship was still on the rocks, a fact that they were no longer able to hide from their children, and while Derek did not doubt Julia’s love for the new baby, he had definitely seen the shadow in her eyes when she had watched Jackson cradle Emilia against his chest, looking, for all intents and purposes, as if he never wanted to let her go again.

“What are you brooding about?” Stiles asked softly when he sat down opposite of Derek, a half-asleep Cas snuggled against his shoulder.

It had been a long and exciting day for the children and Leonie and Noah were already fast asleep in their beds and Derek smiled softly when Cas tucked his thumb into his mouth and suckled quietly.

“Jackson and Julia are getting a divorce,” he said in response and Stiles’ hold on Cas tightened as he pushed his nose into the toddler’s dark hair, as if Cas’ soft toddler-scent would calm his emotions.

“I know. It breaks my heart,” he said quietly.

“Children just aren’t a fix for a broken marriage,” Derek mused and Stiles nodded.

“As countless couples have found out before them,” he said, sounding a little bitter.

Derek shared the sentiment, worried over how this would affect the children, especially Aurelia, whose werewolf instincts would certainly be put through the emotional wringer if her parents separated.

“There’s really no way of getting around this, is there?” Stiles continued after a while and Derek shook his head.

“They filed the papers last week. Julia will stay in the house for as long as the baby needs to be nursed. As soon as she’s weaned she’ll move out.”

“Without the kids?” Stiles asked, disbelief coloring his voice and Derek nodded.

“Jackson made it very clear from the beginning that she could not take his babies from him and Julia – she loves them, I’m sure she does, but not to the point of giving up everything for them. Jackson would. In a heartbeat. And she knows that as well as he does.”

“I am trying not to judge, I really am but it seem so – so …”

“Cold? Heartless? I’m trying not to judge, too, but it’s hard,” Derek admitted.

Stiles clucked his tongue.

“It shouldn’t be though, should it? I mean, dads move out all the time and it’s just taken as a given that the children stay with the mother, even though sometimes they might be better off with the father. Because we as a society somehow have this belief that mothers are automatically better than fathers. It’s unfair,” he muttered, and Derek, who couldn’t tear his eyes away from the protective way Stiles was cradling their son, nodded.

“I know. As I said, she loves them, I’m certain she does. It’s just … maybe loving someone also means that you leave them with the person that is best for them, even if that person is not you?” he wondered out loud and Stiles smiled sadly.

“I’ll stay with you Derek. Now and forever. Always. You know that, right?”

Derek smiled gently.

“I know.”

=================

_August 12 th 2033_

Erica and Boyd’s second baby was – to everyone’s amusement – due on August 16th, the same date as its older brother and while Channing had decided to be fashionably late, its younger sibling took the opposite approach, taking its parents completely by surprise, who had expected to have at least two more weeks before having to call Derek again to perform an amateur c-section.

Labor had snuck up on Erica when she had least expected it, right in the middle of a barbecue party at Stiles and Derek’s house and by the time they had driven her back to her own home she had been screaming bloody murder and threatening castration yet again.

Although Derek had been able to dull her pain during the c-section, quite possibly because being clawed open by your Alpha was not necessarily a natural birth procedure, his werewolf mojo had – not surprisingly – not worked at all to help her through the pains of a contraction and it had taken all of Derek’s self-restraint not to climb into the car and go after them when Boyd had driven Erica to their home, where Melissa was already waiting.

Derek and Stiles had offered to watch Channing and the baby, who was turning out to be as serene as his father, had caused a territorial fight between Leonie, Noah, and Cas, who had all wanted to have Channing stay in their room.

Derek had finally put his foot down and informed his children that the baby was going to stay with him and Stiles and he had smiled wistfully as he had watched Stiles re-assemble the travel cot they had occasionally used when their children had been small.

Channing, who had accepted Derek as his Alpha the minute he had been born, was content in Derek’s arms and Derek ignored Stiles’ teasing grin when he laid Channing to sleep that night.

“I know we said three children are enough and I mean it, I really do, but I miss having a baby in the house,” Stiles mused when Derek laid down next to him and Derek rested his hand on his belly self-consciously.

“I certainly don’t miss being pregnant,” he muttered and Stiles chuckled.

“I don’t believe you one bit. That’s ok though, I must admit, sometimes I look at Noah trying to teach Cas all about the world in words that are much too big for an almost three year old to comprehend and I almost wish we had given Leo-Pie a little sister to teach as well.”

Derek laughed.

“Leo-Pie is perfectly content harassing both of her brothers and being worshipped in return, I really don’t think she is missing out by not having a sister. And besides, I think our strong-willed firstborn is secretly glad she is the only princess in the house,” he assured his mate and Stiles grinned.

“I know, I know. There are just so many precious baby girl dresses and I miss having a baby girl to dress up in pink,” he mused.

Derek was about to reply when his phone buzzed and when he looked back at Stiles he was grinning from ear to ear.

“Looks like you just got your wish, although I’m not sure if Erica will be ok with you trying to gender-stereotype her daughter with pink dresses,” he said and Stiles beamed.

“It’s a little girl? Really? I thought they were having another boy?”

Derek shrugged.

“As we all know ultrasounds can be a little inconclusive sometimes,” he grinned and Stiles laughed.

“Another trickster baby, for sure. What’s her name?”

Derek smiled.

“Polly. Polly Evelyn Boyd.”

“With a name like that she can’t be anything but adorable,” Stiles mused and Derek nodded.

“All of my pack babies are adorable,” he said with conviction.

“Yes Sir Papa-Wolf,” Stiles replied cheekily and Derek laughed.

After all, he had yet to be proven wrong.

 

====================

_January 2034_

“So Derek, my year has begun with a life-changing event – I’m a mom now,” Cora announced when she called Derek on the morning of January 1st and Derek, who was very aware of his sister’s single status, groaned loudly.

“Birth control! You attended these lectures twice, how could you still not …”

“Hold your horses beloved brother of mine. First of all, what I do with my genitals is really none of your business and secondly, I didn’t say I was going to be a mom, I said I _am_ a mom now. There’s a difference!”

Derek blinked.

“I don’t follow,” he said slowly and Cora laughed, albeit a bit jittery.

“Well, I was sitting in this little café near my workplace a couple of months ago and I heard two nuns talking at the table next to me. They were gossiping about the two newest additions to the orphanage they volunteered at, twins, whose mother had apparently abandoned them while screaming about them being the devil’s spawns.”

Cora clucked her tongue in disapproval.

“See, apparently their father’s eyes started glowing red during their conception and rather than explaining to her what he was, the douchebag took off and two months later she was freaking out about being the next star of _Rosemary’s Baby_.”

She laughed, although there was not much humor in it.

“Those nuns kept talking about how restless the babies had been, especially on the last weekend and since that weekend was the full moon I decided to investigate. When I got to the orphanage the sister I spoke to almost dropped her tea-cup when I mentioned that I wanted to meet the twins and the moment they scented my presence their eyes immediately turned amber.”

She laughed again, this time with more warmth.

“It was so incredible, Derek! They knew what I was and they were telling me that we belonged together! So I talked to the nuns and they were really glad that I was taking them off their hands, since apparently they had also started to wonder if maybe the kids’ mother wasn’t so batshit crazy after all.”

“And they let you take them? Just like that?” Derek asked skeptically and Cora snorted.

“Of course not, it’s been a paperwork nightmare and we’ve been at this for over two months already. I know what you’re going to say, I just didn’t want you guys to get excited about them only to find it didn’t work out after all, but we just signed the papers today and well, I can finally make this official. I’m a mom, Derek!”

She sounded so happy, so content that Derek couldn’t help but smile.

“You’ve thought about this?”

“I’ve been thinking about nothing else for two months. Those babies are mine Derek, they might not be biologically, but the moment I met them we just – knew. Me and the cubs both.”

“Cubs?” Derek asked softly and Cora laughed.

“You bet they are. One of them tried to shift the other night to bond with me; of course it didn’t work but it was the cutest thing I had ever seen. I was glad that no nun was in the area though, I wouldn’t have wanted to be responsible for that heart attack.”

“Well, I’m glad they are joining our pack then. We _will_ talk about the secrecy though beloved sister, you realize that, right?”

“Yes Derek, perfectly,” Cora responded and Derek sighed.

“So? What are their names? And are they boys or girls?” he asked and now Cora sounded a bit embarrassed.

“A boy and a girl, though I had to change the girl’s name. Their mother only called them She-Demon and He-Demon and obviously they couldn’t put that on the birth certificate, so they named the girl after a Mother Superior who had apparently founded the orphanage. Not that I would have an issue with that necessarily, but you just can’t go through life as an Ethel these days, you won’t survive school.”

Derek winced, suddenly glad that Stiles had never tried to suggest that particular name.

“What’s her name then?” he asked and he could hear the grin in Cora’s voice.

“Her name is Finja. It’s a Nordic name and it just suited her well,” she explained and Derek, who had never heard that name before but had to admit that he liked the sound of it, nodded.

“And the boy?” he asked and Cora once again made an embarrassed sound.

“Well, _his_ name I didn’t change, because it really suited him – also, I think the nuns liked him more, because they didn’t saddle him with something equally outdated as Ethel. It’s just that … ok, promise me you’ll defend me when Stiles gets mad about this, but you know, it really does suit him and of course I know he’s a werewolf so it’s a bit overdone, but …”

“Jacob? Your son’s name is _Jacob_?” Derek interrupted her and Cora exhaled in relief, obviously happy that she didn’t have to say it.

“Exactly. But you’ll see when you meet him, he’s definitely a Jacob, _Twilight_ be damned!” she defended herself and Derek couldn’t help it. He laughed.

“I’m sure he’ll spoil our new nephew regardless of what his name is,” Derek assured his sister and Cora laughed as well.

“Look at it this way, if you do decide to have another baby, you won’t have to argue about Jacob John anymore, because we’ve got a Jacob in the family now.”

Derek snorted. “ _Definitely_ no new baby, but I appreciate your selflessness,” he grinned.

Cora chuckled.

“That’s me, Cora Hale, Philanthropist par Excellence.”

She was silent for a bit and when she spoke next her voice sounded small.

“They are so tiny Derek, and I don’t want to fail them. Do you think I’ll fail them?” she asked and Derek shook his head, despite knowing that she couldn’t see it.

“You won’t. And even if you mess up, they’ll still love you. And we’ll be there as well, I promise.”

 

====================

_March 2034_

“We’re having another son!” Scott announced during the monthly pack meeting and for a moment you could have heard a needle drop.

Derek cleared his throat and gave Allison a critical once-over.

“I know you carry small Allison, but there is no way you are pregnant enough to be able to tell that yet?” he said skeptically and Allison shrugged.

“We obviously don’t know yet, but Scott read online that if you have three of one gender chances are the fourth one will be the same gender so he’s taking it as a fact now,” she explained and Scott nodded earnestly.

Derek, who remembered Scott’s love for Old Wives’ Tales vividly, rolled his eyes.

“You just had to outdo me, didn’t you?” Stiles spoke up, but he was beaming and Scott shrugged sheepishly.

“You guys just have to have another one so we can marry off all our children between each other,” he suggested with a proud smile and Derek snorted.

“You guys figure out how _Stiles_ will carry that fourth baby and then we’ll have a deal!” he deadpanned and Stiles turned a little green.

“Oh no. That would be horrible. I’d turn into a big Mayonnaise jar, not to mention the fact that I wouldn’t survive the birth. No, no, three children are awesome!”

Derek nodded. “I wholeheartedly concur.”

“So do I,” Jackson muttered and Derek gave him a concerned look.

He didn’t like the bitterness that infused every single word Jackson spoke these days, though he was mostly able to keep it out of his voice when he was with his daughters.

The divorce had been finalized last month and although Jackson carried himself a little lighter these days, as compared to the months in which he and Julia had tip-toed around each other for the sake of the baby, Derek was sure it would take his Beta a while to get back on his feet.

He had to admit though that he was very impressed with Jackson’s organization skills. Jackson approached life as a single-father like he had approached being the captain of the Lacrosse team, including motivational speeches and tight schedules and so far things were working out well.

With the addition of Emilia, Josie had started being a lot nicer to Aurelia and now that Julia was out of the house and the tension gone, the children were more relaxed as well.

And if Jackson spent a little more time than he normally did at Stiles and Derek’s home so the girls could play with Leonie, Noah, and Cas, well, no one was going to say anything about it.

Stiles had been worried for a while that Jackson would try to get together with Lydia, who was currently single, and Derek wasn’t a hundred percent sure that Jackson hadn’t at least made a tiny attempt, but whatever he had done, Lydia hadn’t taken the bait.

She had, however, stepped up the frequency of her visits to Beacon Hills so Aurelia (who loved Lydia fiercely) and her sisters could hang out with her and Derek was proud to see the friendship and genuine love between them, even if it was no longer romantic.

As for Julia, who seemed to be on an “I’m finding my inner Zen”-Trip these days – Talia Hale had raised a boy who occasionally knew to keep his mouth shut when he didn’t have good things to say about a person and therefore Derek was refusing to engage in the pack’s heated condemnation of the girls’ mother.

At least no one ever talked badly about Julia in front of the girls, a rule that Jackson had been very clear about from the beginning.

Derek sighed when he looked at his Beta again, taking in the lines of tension on his face.

Of course it wasn’t the easiest thing for him to see Scott and Allison be so excited about their fourth child, when Julia’s entire pregnancy with Emilia had been one of the most miserable times of his life, but Derek was confident that he would find a way to deal.

“You are going to make sure it’s a boy though, right?” Erica interrupted Derek’s train of thoughts and he focused his attention back on Scott and Allison, who looked at each other and shrugged.

“To be fair, I think it’s a boy as well, I think I’d be feeling a difference if it wasn’t,” Allison said and Scott looked at her fondly.

“He’s going to take after Allison, I can feel it in my bones already,” he grinned, looking so much like a love-sick puppy that even Jackson smiled when the pack erupted into laughter.

“I’m just saying – the last time someone in this pack was a hundred percent sure about his child’s gender – Stiles – it didn’t turn out to be true at all,” Erica teased him, grinning at Cas, who had wandered into the living room.

“Isn’t that right Cas?” she grinned and Cas looked at her in confusion before he shrugged and climbed into her lap, flashing amber eyes at Polly, who immediately flashed her eyes back at him.

“Oh look, they are flirting!” Stiles said with a grin and Derek rolled his eyes.

“Yes, that’s what 3 year olds and six-months olds do all the time,” he confirmed and Stiles grinned.

“Hey, I don’t mind, Polly will be an awesome daughter-in-law … as long as Scotty and me get to share that one grandbaby.”

“If you are quite done marrying off my daughter before she’s even learned how to walk so she can run away from you crazy people at full speed,” Boyd began, sounding just the barest hint of put-out, “I would suggest we set up another betting pool to see if Scott is right.”

Erica clapped her hands.

“I vote no! I know I always vote boy, but in this case, voting no is just so much more satisfying!”

Scott smiled, looking as if he was the only one in on a big secret.

“I’m a True Alpha. Not that I want to brag but my instincts when it comes to my offspring trump all of yours.”

Allison coughed.

“Is that why we have a bunch of cards detailing 50 Daddy-Daughter dates in a box in the attic?” she asked gently and Scott had the decency to blush.

“That was only because I hadn’t read the statistics yet. But now I have and trust me, this baby will be a boy!”

“I believe you Scotty,” Stiles said dutifully, winking at Derek while he did so.

Derek didn’t really have an opinion, but he hoped it was a girl for utterly selfish reasons – the look on Scott’s face if he were to be proven wrong would be a source of hilarity for decades to come.

 

===============

_November 2034_

Derek was – once again – regretting all of his life choices.

At the end of October Deaton had burst into their home, looking as if he was about to keel over in excitement when he had informed Derek that not only was there an “International Male Pregnancy Alpha Werewolf Symposium” hosted by the United Ranks of Emissaries, but that he had also been invited as keynote speaker because of his book about Derek’s pregnancies.

Derek, who liked to ignore the fact that a book existed which detailed every little embarrassing detail of his first two pregnancies (as well as a second edition that talked about his experiences with Cas), including, among other things, the way in which pregnancy affected flatulence (he might have torn those pages out of their own, signed copy), had congratulated Deaton.

He had even meant it.

And then wished to take it back when Deaton informed him that he was to accompany him on the trip.

Stiles had supported the idea, claiming that there would probably be a lot of Alphas there who were hoping to get pregnant some day and desperate for any first-hand experience that Derek could provide.

It had been a reasonable argument and Derek had let himself get roped into the exercise, which was why he was currently sitting in a hotel conference room, surrounded by a bunch of werewolves and emissaries and listening to Alan Deaton wax mysteriously about _Expect the Unexpected – Male Werewolf Pregnancy._

Derek had balked when Deaton had asked him to go on stage with him, arguing that it would have felt like he was a zoo exhibit and they had finally compromised on Deaton pointing him out in the audience at the beginning of the talk.

It was a compromise that Derek had come to regret quickly, since no one was being too subtle about staring at him as Deaton outlined some of the more unpleasant experiences he had had during the pregnancies.

He also didn’t appreciate the constant staring at his abdomen, the slight residual softness mostly hidden by his suit jacket.

Were-vultures, the whole lot of them.

However, as he began to mingle with people in the late afternoon – despite all of his instincts telling him to just flee – he had actually gotten to talk to nice people who were genuinely interested and hopeful to start their own families one day.

The most interesting conversation he had had, however, had been with a Japanese couple, both in their late sixties and both Alphas.

Deaton had translated as the Alphas had told Derek their story, how they had fallen in love, how they had both gotten each other pregnant on accident at the same time within the first year of their mating, how they had managed to not tear each other’s throats out during the 39 long weeks of being pregnant together and how lucky they had been that their daughter had chosen to be born a week after their son, giving each of them the opportunity to fully support the other throughout the birth.

Derek had been fascinated to learn that they had actually gone and conceived six more children afterwards, although they had been careful not to be pregnant at the same time ever again.

They had smiled politely when Deaton had translated Derek’s assurances that three children were more than enough for him and Stiles and Deaton had almost choked in excitement when he reported back that Alphas were no longer able to conceive once their wolves had decided their families were complete.

Derek had blinked slowly, looking at the two smiling Alphas in confusion and repeated the information, unsure if he could believe it.

They had nodded kindly and Deaton had still sounded unnaturally excited when he translated how they had decided that it was enough after their eighth baby and then gone on to have unprotected sex for almost three decades without anymore children, although they had both still been at an age when conception would have been easy.

Derek could see Deaton already adding another chapter into his comprehensive book in his mind and he excused himself politely, his own mind still reeling as he tried to take in the new information.

It was probably a little ridiculous to feel so shocked, after all, he and Stiles were in strong agreement that their family was complete, but it nevertheless felt like the end of something treasured.

He called Stiles from the hotel room an hour later, having finally convinced Deaton that as a father of three he should be allowed to go to sleep whenever he wanted to and Stiles picked up on the second ring, sounding exhausted but not stressed out, which Derek counted as a win.

“How’s the symposium? Are you the belle of the ball?” Stiles asked teasingly and Derek grunted.

“I’m in my hotel room,” he responded and Stiles clucked his tongue playfully.

“You get flown to Boston as the guest of honor and you are spending the evening in a lumpy hotel room? That is sad my love,” he decided and Derek shrugged.

“Couldn’t stay any longer, I was too preoccupied,” he explained and Stiles’ teasing tone softened immediately.

“What’s wrong Derek?” he asked and Derek sighed.

“Nothing’s wrong, it’s just – we can’t have anymore children.”

Stiles was silent for a moment, then he laughed.

“Well, we said we were done, right?”

“I know but that’s not it. We actually can’t have more children. I can no longer conceive,” he explained and he could hear Stiles’ soft gasp through the phone.

“What do you mean?” he asked and Derek replayed the conversation with the two Japanese Alphas, grinning when Stiles whistled at the idea of being pregnant at the same time.

“In conclusion,” Stiles finally said, sounding preoccupied, “we never have to bother with birth control ever again and can go back to having beautiful male on male sex without any accidental pregnancies?” he asked and Derek nodded.

“Exactly,” he offered and Stiles laughed quietly.

“Well, with all the oopsie-babies in the past two years, that’s a good thing, right? I was starting to wonder if we were being a little too smug about this and if Karma was just about to give us another baby just so our pack could laugh at us. And besides, we can fit Leo-Pie, Noah-Boa and Cas in the car now, if we had had a fourth baby we would have had to get a minivan.”

Derek chuckled.

“I love how practical you are sometimes,” he grinned and Stiles snorted.

“You flatter me,” he said cheekily, before his voice turned gentle once again.

“Are you ok with this Derek? I know it’s not like you’ve suddenly gone into menopause or something but it’s yet another change to your body and I just really need you to be ok with this,” he said softly and Derek smiled.

“It’s weird. It feels like the end of something. But I’m alright. I’ll be used to it by the end of the week,” he promised.

“Hey Derek?” Stiles said after a moment of silence, his voice sounding much heavier than normal.

“Yes Stiles?” Derek replied, closing his eyes when he heard the slight hitch in his mate’s breath.

“You and the amazing things your body can do are the greatest gifts I have ever received in my life,” Stiles whispered into the phone and Derek smiled.

“I love you, too.”

“I know.”

“… did you just ruin yet _another_ meaningful moment with Han Solo-ing me?”

“Who me? Nah. Also, I love you.”

Derek grinned.

“Believe me – I _know_.”

================

_December 18 th 2034_

Baby McCall IV turned out to be a rebel for a lot of reasons, arriving almost three weeks ahead of schedule, being breech and thus requiring Allison’s first c-section, and completely defying Deaton’s thesis – which he had proudly proclaimed at the symposium a month prior – that a True Alpha could only father werewolf children.

Baby McCall IV’s most rebellious act, however, was being a little girl, with huge dark eyes, long lashes, and the most adorable crooked little jaw that Stiles had ever seen.

Derek had literally not stopped smirking all the way to the hospital; his delight at Scott’s magnificent True Alpha Gender Prediction Fail maybe a tiny bit too gleeful as far as Stiles was concerned.

Then again, he himself had also not been able to stop smiling ever since he had gotten Scott’s texts earlier, although that was partly for Baby Girl McCall and partly because of the texts.

They had been, in true Scott-fashion, incredibly confusing.

He had also apparently found the All Caps key on his smart phone.

 **“BABY’S HERE! OH GOD! I CAN’T EVEN!”** had been the first text and before Stiles had had a chance to respond, the next text had already come in, proclaiming **“SHOTGUN! I NEED A GUN!”**

And twenty seconds later:

**“A BIG ONE!”**

Derek had rolled his eyes at Stiles’ confusion, as if he was in on the big secret that had apparently caused Scott to go crazy, who, as if to prove the point, had texted

**“I’M LIKE SO TOTALLY BAWLING RIGHT NOW OH MY GOD!”**

“Are they being attacked? Can you sense anything?” Stiles had asked, worriedly, and Derek had laughed.

“Isn’t it obvious?” he had asked and Stiles had shaken his head in confusion, about to reply when the next text had come in.

**“NO BOY PARTS!”**

Stiles’ eyes had widened and he had started to laugh.

“Oh my god, that text is going to be in the power point presentation I’ll present at her wedding!” he wheezed, grinning like a mad man and Derek had shaken his head fondly.

“You both are complete and utter lunatics,” he had concluded and Stiles had bowed.

When they entered Allison’s hospital room Stiles was almost knocked over by an armful of best friend, who was still bawling and had apparently done so on and off for the past four hours.

Allison looked tired but amused while Chris was cradling the baby, looking as if he was reliving the first moments after Allison’s birth.

“So far Scott has cried happy tears about her being a girl, sad tears about the fact that we have a nursery for her that has a pirate theme, miserable tears about the fact that last week he finally threw out the Daddy-Daughter-Dates cards he made when I was carrying Thomas, and anxiety tears about the fact that she’s human, which is why he wants to get the shotgun,” she explained and Stiles patted Scott’s back comfortingly.

“Don’t cry Scotty! Girls can totally dig pirates, too and since she’s going to grow up with three brothers it’s not like she’s going to be a sparkly little pink girl anyways. No one needs suggestion cards for Daddy-Daughter-Dates until one actually knows what one’s daughter likes and as for her being human – well, I’m sure your sons will assist you in stalking all of her future romantic partners with awesome werewolf powers, while she won’t be able to pick up on it. I, on the other hand, will probably have a teenage rebellion on my hands when Leo-Pie catches me stalking her on dates, so I’m going to say you got lucky!”

Meanwhile, Derek did _not_ make grabby hands at the baby, but it was a near thing.

“No one is stalking Leo-Pie,” he muttered when Chris surrendered the child reluctantly and Stiles beamed at him over Scott’s shaking shoulder.

“Says the man who is currently going all Jackson-Gollum over this little princess … let’s face it Derek, my dad will probably throw all of us in jail when Leo-Pie starts dating and her uncles freak out just as much as we will,” he said, wincing when said dad cleared his throat from the room’s entrance.

“I would like to remind everyone that I, awesome father that I was and am, did not stalk my son’s dates with an _older_ werewolf and I’m confident you will all be able to behave – now give me the baby!” he grumbled, expression softening when he took the child from Derek.

“She’s really a girl then? I’m just asking because I distinctly remember Scott presenting us with “It’s a Boy!” baby announcement cards last week?” he asked and Allison chuckled.

“Yeah, I kind of wish he hadn’t already printed out 50 of these. She’s definitely a girl,” she said and Melissa, who had been stopping by every half hour or so since the birth poked her head in, smiling from ear to ear.

“My shift is about to end – do I get to share my new granddaughter’s name with the nurses’ station before I go home?” she asked and Scott finally disentangled himself from Stiles.

“Melissa. Melissa Victoria McCall. We’re going to call her Ellie,” he beamed and Melissa’s eyes widened.

“Really?” she whispered and Scott shook his head before he drew his mother into a bear-hug.

“As if there had ever been any doubt,” he muttered and Derek smiled when his father-in-law placed the baby in Melissa’s arms without a word, grinning from ear to ear.

“That brings the total of our grandchildren up to two girls and five boys – unless you all have other plans?” John addressed the room and everyone laughed.

“Four children is the perfect number for us, we are done now,” Allison said with conviction and Derek nodded in agreement.

“No more children from us either,” he said, rolling his eyes a little when Stiles cackled triumphantly.

“Most definitely no more children from us. We have …”

“The power of Derek’s magical birth-control now. Because Derek’s magical uterus is smarter than the female reproductive system and stops working once the family is complete. Yes Stiles, we know. You have explained this in more detail than I ever wanted to know,” John interrupted his son with a pained grimace and Stiles’ celebratory fist-pump stopped mid-air.

“I’m just saying …”

“You’ve said plenty,” Melissa agreed, her tone firm though her eyes never strayed away from her little namesake.

“Now that we’ve established the total number of grandchildren for this family – how about letting them get acquainted with each other?” John asked softly and Allison and Scott smiled brightly when he opened the door to let Mikey, Alex, and Thomas into the room, the three of whom had been watched by Isaac outside.

At almost three years old Thomas was much more interested in cuddling up with his mommy than saying hi to his new sister, but Mikey and Alex watched the baby reverently, both of them looking at Scott in confusion when they realized their little sister was human.

“She’s not a wolf Daddy,” Mikey said with a frown and Scott nodded.

“That means the three of you will have to protect her always and forever,” he said gravely and Mikey puffed out his chest when he nodded.

It was the most adorable thing Stiles had ever seen him do and he draped his arm across Derek’s back, snuggling into his mate as they watched Mikey and Alex say hi to Ellie.

“You’re a hundred percent sure we are done with children, right?” he whispered into Derek’s ear and Derek kissed his cheek softly, grinning when he nodded.

“So sure, you have no idea,” he confirmed, raising his eyebrows when Stiles began to grin deviously.

“Excellent – because you, my love, are getting an awesome present for Christmas this year!”

 

================

_Christmas 2034_

Stiles’ grin had been devious. Derek was sure of it.

It had been the kind of devious he only used whenever he tried to convince Derek to try out one of his more – out-there fantasies.

Not that was complaining about that necessarily – it had been a long time since Stiles had last tried to rope him into something really kinky.

Rope him into something kinky – his Stiles would have definitely appreciated the pun.

So yes, it would be nice to be a little more creative again.

As long as there was no sparkly powder involved.

The thing was, most of Stiles’ creative ideas included lots of talking and in a house with two tiny werewolves, one of which was just edging around puberty and definitely able to connect the dots, that just wasn’t happening.

Stiles had suggested they soundproof the room two years ago but Derek had refused, arguing that it wouldn’t do if they weren’t able to hear if their two-year-old had a nightmare.

Therefore, now it was just quiet moans and choked-off sobs and Derek loved those, especially when Stiles was making them, but he missed the kinky running commentary.

At least occasionally.

Yes, Derek was definitely excited about his gift.

Excited, and nervous, because he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why it was essential for this gift that his wolf could no longer conceive.

He told himself to stop thinking about it on Christmas Eve, focusing instead on the traditional McCall-Stilinski-Hale turkey dinner.

It was a quiet evening and when they weren’t talking about random things, the adults were watching the children with fond grins on their faces.

Thomas had finally warmed up to the idea of a baby in the house and was now shadowing Allison wherever she and Ellie went.

Coincidentally, so were eight-year-old Mikey and six-year-old Alex, only they looked more like the Queen’s palace guards than anything else, having apparently taken Scott’s warnings that they had to protect their human sister to heart.

It was infinitely adorable.

It made Derek a little sad to see how attached Noah was to Ellie, aware that his son was ecstatic to no longer be the only human among the grandchildren and for a second he almost wished they could have given him a human brother, certain that Leonie would have taken her solitary werewolfness far better in stride than Noah his humanness.

His daughter was currently occupied with listening to her grandfather’s stories, a sleepy Cas tucked against her legs and Jay-Jay lying in front of them like a born guard-dog and Derek was about to suggest they head home when Stiles’ arms sneaked around his waist and his mate pressed a kiss to the nape of his neck.

“Are you ready for your present?” he murmured, fingers gently stroking along Derek’s hips and Derek allowed himself to lean back for a second, to enjoy the warmth, comfort, and love his mate provided.

“Very ready,” he confirmed and Stiles grinned against his ear.

“You can already get in the car then, I’ll round up the rest.”

Shrugging, Derek said bye to the rest of the family and went outside, inhaling the clear, cold December air before he got into the car.

When Stiles climbed into the driver’s seat two minutes later, Derek frowned.

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” he asked and Stiles shook his head with a grin.

“Nope.”

“Are you sure?” Derek confirmed and this time Stiles laughed.

“Very sure,” he grinned, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway.

“I’m not doubting you, I’m really not, but … you do realize we have three children, right? And a dog. That we just left behind.” Derek said and once again Stiles laughed.

“Yes my love, three perfect children, two of which have perfect hearing and while I didn’t clue my dad in on the specifics on what I have planned for you today, he did agree with me that a Christmas-sexiling of the children would be better for their mental health than having to listen to … things. Same reasoning applies for our puppy,” he explained and although Derek wanted to scold him for _sexiling_ their children on Christmas Eve, he was also, and undeniably so, getting excited about what Stiles could have possibly planned for him.

It was obviously something in the house, which Derek appreciated, considering that outdoor kinky endeavors had always led to near-disasters, and Derek had barely closed the door behind them when Stiles already pushed him into the wall, pressing their bodies together as he began to kiss him.

They hadn’t kissed like this in what seemed like forever, the last weeks leading up to Christmas just having been too full of child-related commitments and pre-Christmas stress, and he had missed his mate.

Derek moaned in the back of his throat and when Stiles broke the kiss he pressed their foreheads together.

“Take me!” he demanded and when he could feel Stiles hesitate he thrust his hips, rubbing against Stiles’ groin.

“Please, I can’t wait any longer,” he whispered and whatever Stiles had planned for them had to take a backseat for now, because Stiles was already fumbling at his belt, pushing both of their pants down with shaking fingers.

“How?” he gasped, between more heated kisses and when he had finally slipped off their shirts Derek knew exactly what he wanted.

He was too heavy for Stiles to lift him up, however, he was not too heavy for the iron bar in the middle of the hallway, a leftover from his earlier Alpha training days in the ruins of the house.

His decision made he reached up and clasped the cool material, pulling himself up swiftly and straddling Stiles’ hips in the process.

“Like this. Now!” he all but demanded and Stiles’ eyes widened almost comically for a bit before he dove for Derek’s neck, nipping and biting his way up and down the sensitive skin.

They weren’t in the habit of stacking lube in the entrance hallway – a pun that Derek would ponder later when he wasn’t occupied by an erection – and so Stiles used a combination of spit and both of their precome to prepare him.

Derek’s grip on Stiles’ waist tightened when Stiles grabbed his buttocks and directed him to where he wanted him, allowing him to gently nudge against Derek’s opening before he pushed him down and entered him in one swift stroke.

Derek flexed all of his muscles in response, drawing a long moan out of Stiles and though he longed to rake his fingers through his mate’s hair he refrained, tightening his hold on the bar instead as Stiles began to thrust upwards.

“I need more … upper body strength … this is … amazing!” Stiles gasped between thrusts and Derek threw his head back, groaning with pleasure when Stiles bit into his collarbone.

Sweat was running down Derek’s back from his efforts to keep his weight off of Stiles and when Stiles came he gasped, the angle giving him a spectacular view of the way Stiles entire body contracted in pleasure.

He could feel Stiles softening inside of him and when he pulled out Stiles rested his forehead against Derek’s chest for a minute, catching his breath, the hot gusts washing over Derek’s straining erection.

When his heartbeat slowed down Stiles hooked his arms under Derek’s legs, giving him a mischievous smile.

“Can you lift yourself higher?” he asked and Derek flexed his muscles again, pulling himself up while Stiles pushed at the same time, allowing him to drape his legs over his mate’s shoulders.

Stiles’ intentions became clear quickly when he took Derek into his mouth, his hands grasping at his buttocks to thrust Derek against him and Derek keened.

Stiles was taking him in as far as he could, swallowing around him, and when he came Derek’s hands almost slipped off the iron bar, panting harshly as Stiles gently lowered his legs back to the floor.

“The advantages of being mated to a werewolf never cease to amaze me,” he grinned and Derek released his grip from the bar with a soft sigh, resting his forehead against Stiles’ shoulders when he collapsed forward.

“As wonderful as that was, that’s not what I had in mind for tonight though,” Stiles said a while later and Derek grunted into his shoulder, mumbling something incoherent that made Stiles laugh quietly.

“In time Strength Wolf, in time,” he murmured gently, tugging against Derek’s hand as he began to lead him upstairs, their clothes a forgotten pile in the hallway.

Derek might have been a werewolf but he _was_ in his mid-forties now and so they lay down on their bed for a while, arms wrapped around each other and enjoying the silence in the house.

After a while, Stiles began to smell turned on but also a little nervous and Derek raised his eyebrow questioningly when Stiles got up from the bed and motioned for him to sit on the edge while he busied himself with something that looked suspiciously like Professor Snape’s potion’s laboratory on the bathroom counter.

“Is this a _Harry Potter_ role-play? If it is, I better not be Lupin,” Derek called to him and Stiles turned sideways with a sheepish smile, leaning back so he could poke his head out of the bathroom door.

“What kind of uninventive shipper do you take me for?” he teased, blushing and raising his hand quickly when Derek began to open his mouth.

“Hold on, don’t answer that! Ok, you need to promise me that you will not get mad, laugh, or do anything that doesn’t immediately lead to more sexy times,” he said and Derek’s renewed arousal dimmed slightly in favor of confusion.

“What exactly are you doing?” he asked and Stiles turned back towards the array of bottles.

“Magic. A magical illusion, really, I stumbled over this spell a couple of weeks ago and I just … well … I thought you might like this. Maybe. I _really_ hope you like this.”

He turned around with a tiny bottle and stepped outside the bathroom, holding Derek’s gaze as he sat the bottle down and leaned against the dresser.

“I’m liking this part,” Derek assured him and Stiles smiled affectionately.

“I was hoping you would,” he said teasingly, swatting Derek’s hands away when he reached for his hips.

“Not yet. I need you to close your eyes now.”

Derek cocked his head.

“Why?”

“It’s a surprise. That I hope you’ll really like. Ok, listen, you need to close your eyes now so I can do this before I chicken out,” he smiled nervously and Derek closed his eyes, listening to Stiles lifting up the bottle, setting it to his lips and swallowing down its contents.

There was no poof, no pop, nothing that could have hinted to Derek’s senses what his mate had done, and he breathed as calmly as possible, nervous excitement running through him as he fidgeted at the edge of the bed.

“Keep them closed,” Stiles whispered as he walked closer and although he didn’t sound different, his steps definitely sounded a little off to Derek.

He inhaled deeply – and froze, not sure what exactly he was smelling.

Stiles was still Stiles, but he smelled richer, sweeter, earthier somehow, and it took all of Derek’s willpower to keep his eyes closed and not give in to his wolf, which was screaming _mate, protect_ at him.

“Open your thighs a little,” Stiles commanded softly and when Derek did, he could feel Stiles’ legs taking up the space, his mate’s hands running over Derek’s hair in a soft caress, down his face and trailing along his arms, before he gently lifted both of Derek’s hands.

“You smell … _so good_ ,” Derek breathed, hardly able to concentrate with Stiles standing so close in front of him smelling like a cherry tree field after a summer rain.

Stiles chuckled affectionately before he placed Derek’s hands on his chest.

He gently caressed Derek’s knuckles as he held his hands there for a second, before letting go and allowing Derek to explore his body all by himself.

Derek trailed his hands down Stiles’ chest automatically and he sucked in a sharp breath when he wanted to place his palms flat on Stiles’ stomach and found that he couldn’t.

Well, he could still flatten his palms against his mate’s skin, but he had to curve his hands a little and although Stiles hadn’t allowed him to open his eyes yet his eyes flew open regardless, widening when he took in Stiles’ appearance.

His mate was blushing as he looked at him with love and affection, but it wasn’t Stiles’ face that Derek was focusing on.

It was the bump, resting above Stiles’ slim hips and curving out gracefully as if it had every right to be there.

He looked as if he was in his second trimester of pregnancy, five months, maybe even six and he smelled so irresistible that Derek was starting to wonder if werewolves could suffer from olfactory overload.

“Stiles!” he gasped, unable to tear his gaze or hands away from the protrusion.

“What is this?”

Stiles inhaled, his hands coming to rest on Derek’s.

“It’s an illusion – a very powerful one, designed to fool werewolves of a different pack into thinking a female had already been claimed. I am not trying to disrespect you in any way by making a joke out of pregnancy, I promise I’m not but I was thinking about how we first found out you could conceive so many years ago and well … your wolf _really_ liked the idea of breeding me. So I wondered … how would your wolf have liked it if you had in fact succeeded – how would _you_?” he asked and Derek exhaled shakily.

His wolf was still howling _mate, love, protect, cubs, ours_ , at him, making him tremble with the effort it took to not claim Stiles right then and there.

Derek the human, the one that was more in control, couldn’t tear his eyes away from his mate either, his mind filled with images of what it would have been like.

He had not really entertained the thought after Deaton had informed them about his altered biology, but during _that_ night, the one that he had spent spooned against his nauseous, terrified mate, his hands rubbing soothing circles into his stomach to make him feel better, Derek had hardly slept at all.

Instead, he had envisioned a future in which – despite all odds – Stiles had actually been pregnant, had imagined him swollen with his child, looking happy, content, and peaceful.

Admittedly, his – still rather uninformed – fantasy had been based on picture-perfect movie pregnancies, without any of the physical discomforts and uncomfortably awkward moments that came with it in reality, but it had filled him with powerful emotions, emotions that had pierced at his heartstrings when Melissa had not found a baby on the ultrasound.

Stiles looked so much better than he had in his fantasy and when he started fidgeting in front of him, hands rubbing his belly nervously, Derek decided he had been silent for long enough.

He got up and crushed Stiles’ mouth against his, mindful of the human’s swollen midsection between them, despite the fact that it was only an illusion.

“ _Mine_!” he breathed between kisses and Stiles chuckled.

“Always yours,” he confirmed.

Derek helped Stiles slowly lower himself onto the bed and when he was comfortable, back propped against pillows and gaze fixed on Derek’s, Derek began to explore, trailing his fingers over his mate’s belly over and over, taking in the way it felt under his hands.

When he began to press kisses all over Stiles’ chest his mate leaned his head back with a soft sigh, his hands carding through Derek’s hair as he nuzzled against the skin, only dimly aware of the slight shimmer in the air that indicated that it was all an illusion.

“Can I?” he finally asked, hesitation showing in his voice and Stiles smiled.

“Claim me? Please,” he answered, grunting just a little when he rolled onto his side, allowing Derek to spoon him from behind.

Derek took his time preparing his mate, his free hand constantly running along Stiles’ side and distracting him every now and then and Stiles moaned, pushing back against Derek’s fingers to remind him of his priorities.

In response Derek curved his fingers slightly, grinning when Stiles hissed.

“Patience,” he murmured and Stiles huffed.

“Horny pregnancy hormones, I can’t help it,” he protested and for a split second Derek wondered if he would actually wolf out, breathing carefully through his nose.

“Stiles – I … no talking, please don’t talk I won’t be able to control myself,” he gasped and Stiles turned his head slightly.

“I trust you,” he said quietly and Derek surged forward, capturing his mouth and biting his mate’s lower lip.

As soon as he released Stiles’ lower lip with a plop Stiles took that as free reign to start talking again and Derek had to squeeze his eyes shut when he entered his mate, afraid he would come before he had even started when Stiles began to wonder how much larger he would get, how many babies he was carrying to be so big already, how wonderful Derek had bred him and yeah, that kind of talk really needed to stop because Derek was having a really hard time keeping himself from slamming into his mate like his life depended on it.

“I’m sure it’s twins,” Stiles moaned when Derek hit his prostate again and Derek groaned loudly.

“Told you … before … doesn’t … run … in ... my … family!” he gasped, almost taken by surprise by his orgasm when it shot through him.

When he came down from his high Stiles was snuggling against him, lifting his hips just a little to allow Derek to pull out his gloriously knot-free penis.

“You?” Derek asked, hands already moving towards his mate’s groin and Stiles shrugged sleepily.

“Talked myself into a rather happy orgasm like five minutes ago. I don’t think you noticed,” he informed Derek, the grin evident in his voice.

Derek shook his head fondly, his arm snaking around Stiles’ waist to rest on his round belly.

“How long does it last?” he asked when Stiles rested his hand on top of Derek’s and Stiles bit his lip.

“About five hours in total I think. It can last longer but I used the smallest dosage possible. I think that’s why I’m not _that_ big actually, if I had used more I probably could have gotten myself up to full-term but you know, you always used to enjoy sex the most when you were this size during the pregnancies,” he explained.

Derek chuckled.

“No twins then,” he said softly and Stiles nodded.

“Probably not. Then again, you never know,” he murmured and Derek shook his head.

“Again, not in our family. At least not biologically related,” he said softly.

Stiles laughed quietly.

“And thank god for that. Can you imagine having two babies with Leonie or Cas’ temper at the same time? We would have been shipped off to that mental asylum on the town’s edge.”

Derek shrugged.

“I don’t know, I think we would have managed.”

Stiles yawned.

“I’m sure we would have.”

He turned sideways so he could face Derek, his eyes shining with warmth.

“Thankfully we no longer have to worry about that, right?” he asked and Derek nodded.

“Right,” he confirmed, raising his eyebrows when Stiles’ sleepy grin widened.

“Which means I can indulge in our shared breeding kink to my heart’s content whenever I desire, without having to worry I’ll accidentally knock you up, right?”

In response Derek snuggled closer, burrowing his nose in Stiles’ neck.

“Maybe not all the time – but I could be talked into that on occasion,” he said and Stiles squeezed his hand.

“I knew I could talk you into it.”

==================

_January 15 th 2035_

Derek was able to attribute the weird feeling to the stresses of raising three children for almost two weeks. Werewolf healing or not, anyone would have gotten a headache when faced with three red-faced, screaming children who were fighting over the last piece of Melissa’s German chocolate cake.

It was also completely reasonable to fall asleep on the couch in the middle of the day during nap-time after having spent the entire morning first chasing after Jay-Jay, who had apparently decided to go on a squirrel hunt and then after Cas, who had not been able to sit still for longer than a minute.

As for the queasiness? He loved Stiles, he really did, but every sane person would have gotten nauseous after coming from the fresh, brisk January cold and walking into a house that reeked of greasy curly fries and wiener schnitzel wrapped in bacon. The blinding headache that had followed was only logical.

Derek wasn’t in denial he was just – reasonable. That, and fiercely convinced that their family was complete and he was, according to Deaton’s translation and research, no longer able to get pregnant.

Not to mention that at 44, even if he was a werewolf and his physical age was closer to his mid-thirties, he simply felt too old to have another baby and start the parenting process all over again.

It was a conviction that allowed him to suppress the lingering feeling of _knowing_ for almost two weeks, up until this morning when he had woken up slightly nauseous. The nausea had increased throughout the day and the more he had chanted ‘It’ll be fine if I don’t throw up’ in his head the worse it had gotten.

When Stiles had gotten home that evening he had lasted right until his mate had begun to cook dinner before he lost the fight against his own body, as well as his denial.

It wasn’t that Derek wouldn’t have gladly continued to ignore all the signs, but it was a little difficult to do if one was currently in the process of violently vomiting into the toilet.

He hadn’t had a drink in weeks, he hadn’t eaten anything weird and he was immune to stomach bugs.

The thought would have made him grin if he hadn’t felt so miserable, kneeling on their bathroom floor with his forehead pressed against the lid and one hand pressed into his abdomen.

It wasn’t a stomach bug – that much was obvious to him now. It was, however, a yet to be named different strand of the Noah-Bug.

He didn’t look up when he heard the bathroom door open, refusing to acknowledge his mate’s presence until Stiles crouched down next to him and hesitantly touched his shoulder.

“Derek?” he whispered, sounding shocked and uncertain and Derek groaned.

“If I promise you that you get to name this one, first name, middle name, heck, four middle names if you can think of that many, will you promise me to channel your breeding kink into writing fan fictions from now until eternity?”

Stiles gulped.

“We are having another baby?” he asked breathlessly and before Derek could respond their children barged into the bathroom, Leonie pushing Cas in front of her and Noah slouching behind her, looking extremely disgruntled.

“I _told_ you we were having another baby, I _told_ you Papa smelled different!” Leonie cried triumphantly, her grip on Cas so tight that he squealed in protest.

“It’s not _fair_! You used your werewolf senses, that’s _cheating_!” Noah yelled, stomping his feet and looking as if he was about to burst into tears.

“Daddy, Papa! Leonie bet me that she gets to eat _all_ my treats for a _year_ if you are having another baby. It’s not _fair_!” he wailed, the first tears slipping down his cheeks.

“You could have used _maaaaaaagic_!” Leonie sing-songed, jumping up and down gleefully and accidentally knocking Cas over in the process.

It couldn’t have hurt much, but Cas started screaming immediately, which only led to Noah wailing louder, desperate to have his objections against Leonie’s werewolf-cheating ways heard.

“I want another sister! A human one this time, I don’t like _this_ _one_ ,” he screamed, looking and sounding as if he had just been deeply betrayed and Leonie screeched in protest, leading Jay-Jay, who had trotted up the stairs and poked his nose into the bathroom to see what all the commotion was about, to bark in alarm.

Derek’s headache, which had been bad enough to begin with worsened immediately and as the volume in the bathroom got increasingly louder, he did the only thing he felt he could contribute to the conversation – he wrenched the toilet lid open, hunched over the bowl and started throwing up again.

Stiles knew he would have to make it up to Derek later when he threw his head back and started laughing.

He couldn’t help it – he was truly, madly, deeply, completely, and utterly _happy_.

**Author's Note:**

> Noticed how I said the pack gets done with the baby-"making" in this fic? That was kind of deliberate ;-).
> 
> There's one more Mpreg!Derek Story in the Alliteration Verse (though that one will most definitely be the last one because if it's not then this would turn into the Duggar!AU, because I just enjoy writing Mpreg!Derek too much). 
> 
> Hmm, what else: sorry about Jackson and Julia but don't worry, Jackson is not going Kanima again, he's got his daughters, who are the strongest anchors for him he could have possibly imagined. 
> 
> So I guess this is kind of cliff-hangerish because the new story probably won't be posted until the beginning of August (I have 17 K of that done and that's not enough to post frequently imho) but I figured that since no one is in mortal peril/the verge of death it would be ok to go all cliffie on you again ;-).
> 
> Hope you enjoyed this.


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